GH2 Shooting video at night with the GH2

Justyn said:
The GH2 can be a way better low-light camera than the 150, which I also own, if you have some fast glass out there. When I have to shoot at night, I grab the voigtlander .95 and it's absolutely awesome for this kind of shooting. WAY WAY WAY better than the 150.... Now, If I have an F 2, I still think it's better, but when I have to shoot with the F4 kit lens, it's really lacking and almost impossible...

I would also never shoot auto anything for this kind of stuff for the simple reason that you want to be able to repeat it, and or match it instead of letting the camera make that decision for you.... One other thing that I like to do if possible is to get a manual white balance under the lighting that's there.... That helps with lots of stuff...
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All i have lens wise is the 14-140 at this point.
 
Justyn said:
I would also never shoot auto anything for this kind of stuff for the simple reason that you want to be able to repeat it, and or match it instead of letting the camera make that decision for you.... One other thing that I like to do if possible is to get a manual white balance under the lighting that's there.... That helps with lots of stuff...
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But it gives the original poster a option to shoot a difficult scene where he has not much time to prepare and that was what the original post question was about. WB can be done in post, if you miss the shot you miss the $$$.

iA mode is an instant one button access to the best low light performance of the camera.

R
 
You still need to lock focus by rotating the dial to MF after a half shutter press.

What lens was that 14 140?? If so then those results are good considering you are walking around changing exposure. Your original emergency footage was shot mostly static, that's what i was suggesting iA for.
 
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White balance takes about 30 seconds to get and doing anything in auto is going to have a lot of noise... Noise he wants to avoid... I understand the limits of the 14-140 and in that, it's not a great low-light lens.... It's like wondering why garbage in, garbage out... No post will change that.... you are also allowing the camera to set your exposure and that can be shaky at best, especially if you want or don't want dark silhouettes and such... The only time I'd use this would be if I were in a very consistant lighting situation and even then, probably not too often... if ever.
 
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Justyn said:
White balance takes about 30 seconds to get and doing anything in auto is going to have a lot of noise... Noise he wants to avoid... I understand the limits of the 14-140 and in that, it's not a great low-light lens.... It's like wondering why garbage in, garbage out... No post will change that.
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Justyn what mode do you suggest i shoot in? I understand the 14-140 isn't a great low light lens but the 28-135 USM wasn't either and my Canon 7D with the 28-135 lens wasn't this bad in low light. I know the GH2 is a better camera for video, i`m just trying to figure out what i am doing wrong. To be honest i`m kinda lost after using Canon`s for the last few years. If there was a book out about the GH2 like the HMC150 has i would be all over it at this time lol.
 
Try it with the 20mm f1.7 Pancake as i suggested and reenact your emergency scene shot which is basically an ENG type situation, the difference will be amazing and you still have all the auto functions including iA and it will out perform your HMC 150 which i also have.

Not everybody buys cameras for manual use, some of us including me do use the auto functions when the situation requires that. If you had the 20mm pancake and shot that emergency scene with it on iA and in Motion Jpeg mode, you would have much better footage to give the news broadcaster.
 
rambooc1 said:
Try it with the 20mm f1.7 Pancake as i suggested and reenact your emergency scene shot which is basically an ENG type situation, the difference will be amazing and you still have all the auto functions including iA and it will out perform your HMC 150 which i also have.

Not everybody buys cameras for manual use, some of us including me do use the auto functions when the situation requires that. If you had the 20mm pancake and shot that emergency scene with it on iA and in Motion Jpeg mode, you would have much better footage to give the news broadcaster.
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I`m have been looking at that lens. Soon as money gets right i am going to get it. I dont mind manual but in my line of work sometimes thats`s impossible especially with a new camera you just purchased. However at night i always use the HMC in manual but i guess i got that down to a science with the HMC, Auto at night with the HMC is just asking for pure crap footage. I guess it`s a learning curve with a HDSLR in manual compared to a video camera. I appreciate all feedback.
 
After watching some of your other video's (car rescues etc) you zoom occasionally, but fast zooms are hard to come by. If you could shoot close and then retreat for the long shots the 20mm would be perfect manual mode or auto. Ideally set up a low light setting on one of your function save buttons and have the GH2 in Motion Jpeg.
 
...have read this thread. So, I'm assuming that iA mode for video gives me 1080i video, right? It won't give me 1080 24p video, correct? Thanks.

Ragnar
 
rambooc1 said:
After watching some of your other video's (car rescues etc) you zoom occasionally, but fast zooms are hard to come by. If you could shoot close and then retreat for the long shots the 20mm would be perfect manual mode or auto. Ideally set up a low light setting on one of your function save buttons and have the GH2 in Motion Jpeg.
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Yes in the market over here 4 out the 5 stations frown on zooming and panning. It`s okay it makes that much more simple for me. Like i said they didn't complain about the video, hell lets be honest they would have bought if i shot in on a cell phone. They dont care about quality anymore just look at some their videos from their "professional" photogs with 30 grand cameras. I just get bothered when the quality is F ed up, i like my video to look better than my 2 competitors. Shooting over night in almost no light conditions except for emergency strobes and LED`s is rough. Sometimes you have no choice but to use gain and you know what that does with the HMC.
 
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lakotawolf said:
Justyn what mode do you suggest i shoot in? I understand the 14-140 isn't a great low light lens but the 28-135 USM wasn't either and my Canon 7D with the 28-135 lens wasn't this bad in low light. I know the GH2 is a better camera for video, i`m just trying to figure out what i am doing wrong. To be honest i`m kinda lost after using Canon`s for the last few years. If there was a book out about the GH2 like the HMC150 has i would be all over it at this time lol.
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Remember that the 7D sensor is a little bit bigger than the GH2's. 7D is a 1.6x crop from full frame and GH2 is 2x. So that accounts for it not being quite as good w/ low light.
 
lakotawolf said:
Yes i sit on my butt and listen to scanners and when something happens i go and shoot spot news. Not exactly a great job but i make good money and dont have to worry about being jobless.
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Haha, cool. That's interesting. I've been wondering how the freelance journalism gig works for a while. So the stations don't contact you-- you just go out and then sell it to them? Or do you have a deal set in place with a station or what? I'm curious. lol.
 
BrandonT said:
Haha, cool. That's interesting. I've been wondering how the freelance journalism gig works for a while. So the stations don't contact you-- you just go out and then sell it to them? Or do you have a deal set in place with a station or what? I'm curious. lol.
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Well once you get your foot in the door they do call and send you at times, but 90% is listening to the radios and hauling butt when something goes down. The market i work in the set price is $75 a video for local stations they wont pay anymore than that, but when you are selling a video to all 6 stations it`s not bad. If it goes national then you are looking at between $300 to $500 a video. If you live in a metro area where shootings , fires, accidents ect. are happening several times a night, you have the potential to make some good money. After i shoot the video i go back home edit it to a minute video, slap it up on YouTube so they can view it, If they want it then they download it on my sharefile.
 
I've got the 20mm f1.7 too. But I find the autofocusing too slow on it and the depth of field too shallow. I think for a run and gun situation the newer 14mm f2.5 would be better even though it loses a stop for lowlight, I quite often find myself using the 20mm stopped down to f2.5 anyway to give me breadth in focusing, and that still makes it heaps faster than the 14-140mm which I have as well
 
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